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Yee haw, I finally got my Trionic SPG out there again. Lots of new parts/mods were in effect for this drive, which was held at Buttonwillow Raceway in the desolate, dusty middle part of California. We ran the longest configuration (3.0 miles/lap) in the clockwise direction. Weather was cold and clear in the AM, and almost warm in the PM.
The track is very flat, with only a couple man-made "bumps" to call elevation. Also it is very fast, with several spots to hit 100+mph.
Car: 1986 Saab 900 SPG
Engine: 1988 2.0L ported head, balanced, lowered compression
Computer: T5 Trionic
The latest additions:
-- Wilwood 12.81" x 1.25" front 2-piece rotors w/ the 4 piston forged superlight calipers, dual manual 7/8" master cylinders with F/R bias bar, and brake pedal pivot modified for more leverage due to loss of power assist.
-- Quartermaster twin-disk clutch and integral flywheel; was supposed to be bolt-in but I found that it needed shim behind clutch slave cylinder to reach pressure plate; then needed clutch pedal stop to prevent over-bending of pressure plate diaphragm spring.
-- Hoosier slicks 225/45-17 on 17" x 7" Centerline forged wheels; all four corners clearanced inside and out to fit. And I still have to use wheel spacers - 3mm rear and 10mm front. Rears have lots of room now; fronts still could use clearance around spring seat, then I could back off the spacers a bit.
-- Choice of computers for testing (ng900, 9000Aero, SQR stage 3, Maptun Stage 3)
Now any tuner would tell you "that's just too much crap to test in one day" and it certainly was. I was fighting with the car the whole day, from brakes to boost. The only thing that worked flawlessly was the Quartermaster clutch/flywheel, which is nothing but a pleasure to operate once up to speed.
The car had immense levels of grip from the giant hoosiers, but due to the cold weather and limits of this driver, I don't think that I ever got them completely heated...and like lots of things, race tires need to get into their happy zone to work properly. However they worked well enough for me to execute some pretty trick slides and drifts at speed, even a few on purpose! My favorite was called the "Lost Hills" turn, which positions a zig-zag over the crest of one of the man-made hills. You have to get nearly all your turning done before the crest, because once the car unweights ain't no more turning going to happen. A couple times I zoomed up the hill, nailed the brakes, got the car sideways and drifted over the top of the hill...hooking up on the other side and pulling out under power. Sooo f-ing fun!
The suspension was mostly a bust though. I'm still cursed with springs from the old Group 6, and trust me these things have outlived their usefulness. In some corners the car wasn't sliding as much as Wallowing, which looks as bad as it sounds. Ugn. I'm calling Brad right now to get on the list for a set of his springs & perches. (BTW if you haven't heard of Group6 you haven't missed anything...quite possibly the first US saab tuner and the worst example of customer service ever).
Finally the computers. What a mess. The ng900 box was pretty freaking fast, so I kept that in for 3 sessions until I felt that I had a handle on the track. But due to an electrical glitch that I was only able to figure out on the way home (doh! too late...), none of the other computers worked quite right, only making 8psi and lots of noise. More on that as I figure it out. No tuning was possible with the computers.
That's my report - there's a pic attached. Notable is the car next to mine, a VW GTI VR6 3.0L with a T3/T4 Turbo kit. That thing makes mad power at only 5psi!! I got to drive it for a few laps at the end of the day -- it pulled harder than my car did but it was difficult for me to drive fast. Props to Max and his VW Turbo!
posted by 12.186.77...
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